Completed 2nd bullwhip

This tan faux-leather was rougher to use and made a worse looking final product. That's okay though because it's still an improvemnt from the first one. Better overall taper, etc...  I think I'm ready to try leather.

Completed whip

So here's the first whip completed.  Will add more about the process later.

Strand cutting

So I started the strand cutting process. Because this is meant as practice, I wanted to use the same method as I will with the leather. So I cut out a roundish piece approx the same size as the kangaroo hide I have. I tried to use the strand cutter I got on it...:

...but it didn't work very well. I hope it works better on the real leather, but I was ending up with some pretty poor laces that varied all over the place in width. I think it's partly because I'm not practiced at using it, but more so because the faux-leather is stretchy and has cloth on the back and it just didn't work well. So I went with a different method.

I measured along the outside edge 30 inches (2.5 feet), then used a caliper to mark 5mm along that edge, then simply cut it out with scissors. Then I marked out another 30 inches at 6mm, then 7mm and finally 8mm:

This will give me a strand that is 10 feet long and tapers from 8mm to 5mm. I measured around the diameter of the handle for after the 2nd bolster and it was 88mm. Divided by 12 that's 7.33. I rounded up to 8 so they would be a bit larger than the diameter, as it seems I read somewhere that slightly larger is better then slightly smaller and I want good coverage.

I feel frustrated by the lack of information to be found on strand length. I know they need to be longer than what I want the whip, but I cannot find any estimates on how much longer. Twice as long? A third again? Who knows. So I went with 10 feet and we'll see what the final whip ends up being. I'd like an 8 footer, but I expect the end result will be shorter than that with 10 foot strands. We'll see.

Because we did not want to have breaks in the tape backing, we decided it was best to tape the back of the strands after cutting them out and then cut the extra tape off the sides. This will be a royal pain, but, obviously, will not be part of the process with leather. We could skip it, of course, but I figure that even with a practice whip we should make it as strong as reasonably possible.

This is the strand laid out over the tape. It's hard to see the strand, but it's there.

Then I cut the excess tape off. The entire process for a single strand took several hours (1.5ish, really). So it'll take a while, but it's all in the name of fun and learning, right? And here's the first strand completed:

2nd Bolster

Cut the 2nd bolster 4.5 feet too, and width-wise did the same method as the first bolster. But instead of taping it on we tied it on with artificial sinew (more for practice than anything):

Once again, this is a step that I'm not sure on. I don't know how long to make them, how to shape them, etc., etc... I get the basics, but all the details aren't quite falling into place yet.

First belly

So I moved forward on my whip but Bryony had a visitor and couldn't move forward yet on hers. I cut out a bolster and taped it on. (Once again, I won't use tape for this sort of thing when using leather). This process is a bit of a conundrum for me. I don' t know how long to make the bolsters, exactly what shape to make them, how to measure them, etc.  I basically wrapped a piece of paper around the first braid (the core) and marked it with a fold. Then I used that as my measurement for the handle width. Then I just guessed on the length, tapered it to a point, and stuck it on. I did not tape the back of the bolster because I'm worried about thickness.

Next, I cut out strips for a belly. In this case I went 4.5 feet in length. The reason I went with this length is because that's the width of the faux-leather we got. I did the same process for cutting this out (measured, taped the back, tapered, cut) but did 8 strands instead of 4:

Then it was plaiting time again. I attached it to the handle with the same method as the core (duct-tape) and then plaited. I dropped from 8 strands to 6 part way down.

Toward the end I ended up breaking one of the strands, so I backed up the plaiting a bit, added a new strand, plaited over it for a bit and then picked it up to replace the broken one.

Here's the finished belly.

By the time I was done my fingers were bruised and so sore I could hardly pick stuff up. That's the price you pay for whip making.